After a memorable four-year career as a volleyball standout at North Adams High School, senior Charlee Louden is now prepared to take her game to the next level, signing her letter of intent to continue her volleyball career at Cincinnati Christian University. With family, coaches, and administration on hand, Louden officially signed with CCU in a short ceremony in the NAHS gymnasium on Tuesday, Jan. 30.
Louden was a member of one of the most memorable senior classes in the school’s volleyball history, a team that won four gold balls, meaning they went their entire high school careers without losing a match in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference. The Lady Devils also won sectional championship all four years of Louden’s career.
Personally, Louden has her name etched in the record books as the North Adams career record holder for most kills (1,083), most kills in a season (463), and most kills in a match (34 vs. Greenfield in 2017).
“I went to Cincinnati Christian for a visit and really enjoyed meeting the team and coaches,” Louden told The Defender. “I then went on another visit and actually got to practice with the team and the environment was fun and inviting. Coach Miracle seems very involved and very supportive.”
“Of course, one of my favorite parts of the school is the great view of downtown Cincinnati. It’s a small school but the view makes up for it.”
After the signing, Louden reflected back on her four years at North Adams.
“I so enjoyed my time at North Adams, this is probably the best volleyball school around. To come into this gym and remember all the matches we won and all the gold balls. Since my freshman year, I got to grow with Coach (Katie) Ragan and all of my teammates.”
Coach Ragan knows how important Louden was to her teams’ recent success.
“Charlee started for us for four years and basically played every point for us for four years,” said Ragan. “Her leadership on the court was outstanding and she was the person we sent the ball to when we needed a point and that will be really hard to replace. In her senior season, she really picked it up on defense and her back row play really improved.”
“Everyone in the gym knew the ball was going to be set to her, but the other team didn’t have any idea where she was going to hit it. And if she hit the ball in, it wasn’t coming back.”
Cincinnati Christian finished 11-19 last season, and NAIA school playing in the River States Conference. Their second-year head coach Adam Miracle is quite happy to have Louden in the fold for the Lady Eagles.
“We are really excited to have Charlee join our program,” said Miracle. “She’s an outstanding young athlete. I saw her online profile and we had her come for a visit and had a little workout, and I instantly knew she would be a good fit for us. “
“She’s really athletic and she can jump really well. She is skilled in every aspect of the game and very multi-dimensional-she can pass, hit, and serve. We can hopefully use her as a four-year starter in our program. She can be a staple for what I am trying to build at CCU.”
While enrolled at CCU, Louden plans to study Early Childhood Education and minor in Psychology.